Instrument Rating study guide
Instrument Rating · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Instrument Rating – Airplane (often abbreviated IRA, and also listed as Instrument–Airplane) is the FAA certification that moves a pilot from visual flight rules into the instrument flight rules environment. It is aimed at private and commercial pilots who want to fly in clouds, in reduced visibility, and through the airspace system on an ATC clearance rather than by visual reference to the ground. The Instrument Rating study guide has 8 sections and about 2,475 words.
01Preflight Preparation
Every IFR flight starts with the regulatory checklist. The equipment required by 14 CFR 91.205 is remembered as GRABCARD: Generator/alternator, Radios (nav and comm), Attitude indicator, Ball (slip-skid), Clock with a sweep second hand, sensitive Altimeter, Rate-of-turn indicator, Directional gyro.
311 words, about 2 min02Preflight Procedures
IFR preflight is a systems verification, not just a walk-around. Check pitot heat and the static ports, the alternate static source, vacuum or pressure pumps and their gauges, the electrical load with every avionics unit running, and the standby instruments.
328 words, about 2 min03Air Traffic Control Clearances and Procedures
Use CRAFT: Clearance limit, Route, Altitude, Frequency, Transponder. Read back every altitude, heading, speed, runway, frequency, and hold-short instruction.
301 words, about 2 min04Flight by Reference to Instruments
Split the panel into control instruments (attitude indicator, turn coordinator, power) and performance instruments (airspeed, altimeter, VSI, heading indicator). Set the attitude, cross-check the performance, then correct: attitude, power, performance, in that order.
305 words, about 2 min05Navigation Systems
VOR is line-of-sight; reception degrades with range and terrain. The CDI is full-scale at 10 degrees of deviation, so a full needle means you are 10 degrees off the selected radial.
276 words, about 1 min06Instrument Approach Procedures
Approaches have initial, intermediate, final, and missed segments. The minimum safe altitude provides 1,000 ft of obstacle clearance within 25 NM of the fix.
318 words, about 2 min07Emergency Operations
14 CFR 91.3 gives the pilot in command authority to deviate from any rule in an emergency to the extent necessary, and to report the deviation on request. Squawk 7700 for an emergency, 7600 for radio failure, 7500 for hijacking.
317 words, about 2 min08Postflight Procedures
Cancel IFR with ATC in the air or with flight service after landing, and close any VFR flight plan; an unclosed IFR plan can trigger search-and-rescue. After shutdown, review the flight honestly: what the clearance actually said, what you read back, and where the approach degraded.
319 words, about 2 min